Winston Davenport - Kingdom of god, part 2 - Anointed!

Hi, I'm Winston Davenport; thanks for tuning in with me this week. I am talking about the Kingdom of God, or, as Jesus referred to it, the Kingdom of Heaven. Every week I will be uploading a ten or fifteen minute mini-sermon on this subject and other subjects in the months to come. So I would encourage you all to tune in every week and listen to what's new. And I appreciate the followers who have already been tuning in. Also make sure and visit www.winstondavenport.com for more information, as well as the opportunity to listen to awesome, anointed worship music, purchase albums, books---it's just a great hub for the efforts of today's modern, moving Christian community that God is raising up. So back to the message. We're talking about the Kingdom of God and how that Kingdom is here, it's at hand, it's available, it's all around us, and Jesus even when so far as to say that the Kingdom of God is within you, speaking to His disciples, both back then, and the disciples that would be coming in the next two thousand years. That means me, that means you. The Kingdom of God is already within you. You did nothing to deserve this. You did not earn this. The Kingdom of God did not come into you because you read the Bible a lot, or prayed a lot. And, in fact, it will not leave you because you don't read the Bible a lot, and because you don't pray a lot. The Kingdom is within you; it is literally a part of your nature at this point, and that Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. That means that the King---the resident King---of the Kingdom within you is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God Himself. That's good news! I love You, Holy Spirit! Thank You for being in me! Now, this Kingdom---the Kingdom of God---even though it exists all around us, most people---I'm going to say almost all people---are not able to see this Kingdom, and therefore they don't really believe that this Kingdom exists. Most Christians will say, No, the Kingdom of God is still coming, it's still to come. The Kingdom is the millennium. The Kingdom of God will happen as soon as Jesus returns at the Second Coming. So, because they can't see it or see its effects around them, they just assume that it's not actually here, or they have desperate attempts to theologically explain away the immanence---the existence, the presence of the Kingdom of God that is all around us right now, and is most certainly within us. This Kingdom will be most likely missed or overlooked by religious leaders. Those who think they have it all figured out. Those who are well-read, they're studied with theological books, they went to seminary, they know the Bible from cover to cover---and they think that somehow this gives them the one-up. This gives them the strategic advantage in the pursuit of the Kingdom because they have head knowledge. And yet they don't actually know the King Himself, Jesus Christ. And Jesus said this exact same thing to the Pharisees two thousand years ago. He said, "You search your scriptures every day; you pour over them, thinking that in them you might find life, and yet you have not come to me." I see this same principle at work in this day and age. I see Christians and Christian leaders searching the Scriptures, pouring over the Scriptures daily. They have their daily reading, they have their Bible studies, they have their commentaries and all their different translations of the Bible. And they seek that stuff, and they say the Word of God is Jesus Christ. This book is Jesus Christ! Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. Christian Leader, but the Bible is not Jesus Christ. It is inspired by Jesus Christ, but to think that God, or the presence of God as revealed in His Son could be contained in those 1800 pages, between leather covers is just silly. I love the Bible; the Bible is great; I appreciate it; it is helpful; it is inspired by God; it is God-breathed. But that doesn't mean that it is God. And as Jesus said, searching those Scriptures, no matter how often you do it, doesn't exactly lead you to the author. We must be seeking relationship and revelation with the author, not with the book itself. So, because people seem to think that they know what this Kingdom is going to look like, and they're searching for it ardently, they're actually going to miss it when it's revealing itself to them, because they have these preconceived notions of what the Kingdom's going to be like. This is nothing new. Think about the Jews in the Old Testament. They sought the Kingdom, they sought the Messiah, the One who was going to come and lead the Israelites out of captivity and into freedom. If you go back and read all of the prophets, from Isaiah to Ezekiel to Habakkuk, they all prophesied about the coming Messiah---the Savior of the World who was going to come and basically lead a rebellion against the empire, and bring the Jews to full power or preeminence in the world. They thought that a humanistic, strong, Alexander the Great-type of character was going to come and give yhem what they wanted. Well, guess what? When the Son of God came, He did come to bring freedom, and He did set them free. But it really didn't look like they thought it was going to look. And as a result, most Jews still don't believe that their Messiah has come. That's right: Jews, who are still looking to the book of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, and expecting this Messiah to come, believing that He has not yet come---they believe that those prophecies were for a time even further into our future. We know that the Man those books were speaking of DID come, two thousand years ago. And when He ascended, He actually came again as the Holy Spirit and now dwells in us as believers. He was the firstborn among many brethren. And now it's our job to BE Jesus, and continue to be Jesus, spreading His Kingdom throughout this earth. But most people have missed that simple fact, because when He came, He didn't look like they thought He should look. How often in today's church is the Spirit moving, but because it doesn't look the way that we believe it should look, we miss it entirely? Or we call it heresy, or blame it on the devil? A lot! That happens all the time. You know, the Book of Luke, chapter 3, verse 5 says, "Every valley will be filled up, and every mountain will be brought low." Every valley will be filled up; every mountain will be brought low. That means that the places that seem low---the valleys that seem like they don't have much potential, much promise, are actually going to become the answer, and it also means that the mountains, where everybody's looking right now, and they say, Well this is the highest place; This is where it's at; This is tall and strong and unmovable---is going to be brought low. This was a prophecy in the Book of Isaiah that was quoted by John the Baptist, as recorded in the Book of Luke. He goes on to say, "All mankind will see"---and that word, see, doesn't literally mean, see with your eyes; it means see with the eyes of your heart, your understanding, your mind will be opened up---"they will see the SALVATION"---the Greek word there, SOZO, or SOTERIA, means, total and complete well-being in every area of life. Total well-being. That is salvation. So every valley will be filled up, every mountain will be brought low, and all mankind will see the salvation, the complete well-being that God has to offer. Wow. This is awesome. So, I don't believe that every man is able to see that, which still means that we've got some valleys that need to be lifted up and some mountains that need to be brought low. This is why the Great Awakening that is ensuing right now in the Christian Church is not going to come FROM the Church; it's actually going to come from the place that Christians would least expect it. It's going to come from the world. It's going to come from the sinners, the drug addicts, the hopeless, the prostitutes---it's going to come from where we least expect it. And isn't that like God? Even Jesus, the Son of God, came from Nazareth! Everybody was like, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Well, that is the least likely place for the Savior of the World to have come from. And yet, that's where He came from. He was born in a stable. This doesn't seem like the typical entrance of GOD into the world of man. Not much fanfare at all. No trumpets. No throne. He wasn't really driving a Rolls Royce down the street, either. I'm saying that Jesus came from a place where He would be seen and recognized by those who were truly hungry for who He really is---the Truth---and a place that would be generally missed by the people who knew exactly where to look for Jesus, they knew exactly what the Messiah was going to look like. Eyes were wide open; they weren't going to miss Him. And yet they did, because God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Why does He do that? I don't know. It's the way that He does it, so we best get on board. Now, I like to think about what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 9, verse 13. He said, "The Kingdom of God is for the sinners and the sick." It's not for the well. It's for the sinners and the sick. This is revolutionary. This is not for those who know exactly where to look for it, they know exactly what it's supposed to look like. The Kingdom of God is literally for those people who don't deserve it. They don't deserve it. Let me ask you a question: Do you believe that you have done something to earn access to the Kingdom of God? Do you believe that all your Bible reading, all your scripture memorization, all your daily devotionals have earned you a right to the Kingdom of God? Do you believe that the fact that you are a faithful churchgoer---you're there every Sunday morning, every Wednesday night, you lead a home group, you play on the worship team---do you believe for one second that that has anything to do with you gaining access, or living and walking in a revelation of the Kingdom of God? If you do, you are now self-described as a modern-day Pharisee! I kid you not. The Kingdom of God is not for you. It is not available to you. It is not meant for you if you think that somehow you have deserved it or earned it. It is literally for the sinners and the sick. That's why I want you to look around you. Look at the people who are the most broken down. Look at the drug addicts. Look at the homeless guy on the corner who's always begging for money. Look at the swindlers, the cheats, the liars, the tax collectors, the sex offenders, the prostitutes. Look at the *** and the ***. Look at the dregs of society---the people that you most likely have passed judgment on, that have passed judgment on, that many Christians pass judgment on---those people are the ones who are ready and willing, and are going to inherit the Kingdom of God. Is that mind blowing? It should be. It should be. However, if you are a Pharisee, for instance, it's not too late for you. The apostle Paul---he was a Pharisee. He actually went around killing followers of Christ. He did have a heart after God, a true heart after God. And because of that, God met him on the road, knocked him off his high horse, literally, blinded him with some light, and set him on the straight and narrow. The path of truth. And I just believe right now that anybody out there who actually has a heart seeing after God, seeking after the true Kingdom---God is able and willing to knock you off your high horse, to blind you with the light of revelation---even if that lasts for a few days, you will see again---and you can become a forerunner, a Gospel preacher of the true Gospel of grace, without mixing in any legalism, any of that old Pharisee mindset and you can become a Kingdom-of-God forerunner. And I believe that to my core, that not only is God raising up the sinners and the sick, but the Pharisees and Sadducees of the modern day church who are truly to their core sinners, and very very sick, God is also going to raise them up if their heart is after Him. Thanks for tuning in this week. We'll have more next week, talking about the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven. As always, visit www.winstondavenport.com for more information and some great worship albums, some soaking music, more teaching videos, sermon mp3s. There's a lot of information for you for free on that website, www.winstondavenport.com. God Bless!